


somebody to you

by pixies



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Famous Niall, Internet, M/M, Single Parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-16
Updated: 2014-09-16
Packaged: 2018-02-17 14:38:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2313113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pixies/pseuds/pixies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>a five universes where ziall always find each other fic (aka an excuse for me to write some of the verses i've always wanted to write) (includes: coffee shop, uni, famous/non-famous, tumblr, and single dads)</p>
            </blockquote>





	somebody to you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [brokendrums](https://archiveofourown.org/users/brokendrums/gifts).



> for brokendrums. i'm sorry this doesn't exactly follow your prompts, but i got inspired by your soulmate/domesticity ones and took some liberties. i hope thats okay!

UNI.

Niall is already bored, sitting in ECON-101 on the first day of classes and listening as the professor starts going over the syllabus. Syllabus week is such a waste of time, honestly...if he's gonna drag his ass across campus for a class at 9 in the morning, he'd really prefer to actually /learn/ something, and to have that something be anything other than his professor's complete life story. 

Five minutes after class starts and two pages into the syllabus, the door at the front of the lecture hall creaks open and someone slips inside, closing it gently after him before turning to face the professor, and consequently, thanks to the layout of the lecture hall, the rest of the class. Niall swears he hears everyone in the room audibly gasp, and like. He sees why. The person that just came in is easily the most beautiful person he's ever seen, and judging by the way the rest of his classmates reacted, he is for them too.

The professor breaks everyone out of their daze, then, taking a glance down at the class roster, which he'd had everyone sign at the beginning of class. "Ah," he says. "You are either Mr. Malik, or you're lost."

"Um. I'm Mr. Malik?" The guy answers and then shakes his head the slightest bit and clears his throat. "I'm Zayn. Malik."

"Very well," their professor replies, and then holds out a syllabus. "Go on and take a seat."

The guy- Zayn- nods and thanks him as he takes the syllabus from him, turning and ascending the stairs quickly. It's not until he sees him coming straight towards him that Niall realizes the seat next to him is the only empty one left in the hall, and he hurriedly slides his stuff over a bit as Zayn makes his way down the aisle. 

Zayn glances at him and smiles gratefully as he sits down, murmuring a whispered "Thanks, man," as he pulls his notebook out of his backpack and slides his chair in closer to the long table that makes up their row. 

Niall leans back in his chair a bit, reaching into his pocket to grab his phone. He unlocks it quickly and hunches over a bit, dulling the screen's brightness as well as hiding it under the edge of the table as he pulls up his text messages. He finds his and Harry's thread and taps on it.

_harry_ he types. _harryharryharry_

_niallniallniall_ Harry responds, and then: _hiiiii._

_i am sitting next to the prettiest person i’ve ever seen_

_not possible_ Harry types back. _lou is sleeping right next to me atm, sooo_

Niall sends back the emoji with the mask on its face, as well as the one that looks like its rolling its eyes. _yes ok ur boyfriend is the most beautiful now help me please_

_well obviously you need to get in there nialler_ Harry responds. As soon as that text comes through, he's typing again. _have you introduced yourself?_

_you know, haz, most people don't usually hold conversations in the middle of a lecture_

_no, you're right. they just text instead_ Harry shoots back.

_...good point_ He sees that Harry's opened it and can just imagine the smug smile on his face. _what do i say_

_hi, my name is niall_ Harry answers. _and i'd like for us to do the do_ And then: _we should bone sometime_

_and you were doing so well there at the beginning, actually being helpful_

By the end of class, Harry's managed to convince Niall to introduce himself. Niall locks his phone just as the Professor checks his watch and signals the end of class; he slides his phone back into his pocket and turns to his left, where Zayn was sitting, except. He's met with Zayn's back, already halfway down their row, his backpack slung over his shoulder as he cuts through the crowd of students all trying to beat each other out the door.   
\--  
He's not at the next few classes, and Niall thinks maybe he's dropped the course. That is, until Niall is sitting in his chair the following Friday, slumped over the table with his head in his hands, with the worst hangover he's ever had, because Louis is a menace and Liam is a menace, and together, they are the Worst. Beer he can handle. He could drink anyone under the table, all while yelling " _pints!_ ", but tequila? Not so much. He smells like tequila. He's sweating tequila. He thinks that if he were to cry right this instant, he would probably cry tears of tequila. Shitty, shitty tequila. His eyes have slid closed and he's currently counting each pounding thud in his head while he waits for class to start, when he hears the door open and the classroom go quiet again, hears at least eighty-seven percent of the students gasp, and then the same muttering and chatter from the first day. 

Niall groans internally. He can't handle this. He lifts his head and looks down to the front, and all of a sudden there's wind blowing, and soft lights shining, and a hallelujah chorus playing in the background, and yep. It's who he thought it was. 

He plies himself up from the desktop, squinting his eyes against the harsh brightness of the room's lighting, and watches as Zayn makes his way into the classroom and up the stairs. He's wearing light wash denim jeans that hang low on narrow hips, and a black Nike crewneck that's baggy around the shoulders. His hair is pushed back into a beanie today, and his notebook is tucked under his arm. Niall sees that there are more open seats this time, and sort of hopes that Zayn will take one of them, purely so he won't be able to witness the hot mess that is Niall Horan at the moment. He fears that those surrounding him will get a contact-hangover. Of course, Zayn turns down his row and makes for the seat right next to him. This is not one of the first impressions Niall wanted to make.

"Hey, man," Zayn says as he sits down. He looks over at Niall after a second, giving him a quick glance, and then takes him in for a second, then grins knowingly, shaking his head. He's about to say something, but then their Professor comes tearing into the lecture hall, already mid sentence, and his attention is drawn to the front of the room. 

Niall barely pays any attention, mainly focusing on keeping his head up and _not_ barfing, even though every time he swallows he can still taste traces of tequila and limes and it's not helping the queasiness of his stomach. 

He's just opened up the group message and begun to type _dear liam and louis i hate you very much sincerely niall horan_ when Zayn gets his attention by pushing his notebook over to him. He taps at a doodle in the right margin with his pencil, and Niall looks over, curious.

Niall can see a little doodled version of himself, down to the backwards snapback and uni t-shirt he's wearing. Cartoon-Niall is clutching his head, his eyes closed and a bunch of lines drawn around his head to indicate a pounding headache; there's a thought bubble over his head as well, and in it Zayn has drawn a bottle of beer, inside a circle with a big 'X' over it.

Niall can't help but laugh and then has to turn it into a cough to try to hide it, wincing as he sits back in his seat because the laughing-and then the fake coughing- has just made his headache ten times worse.

He reaches for his own notebook and draws a bottle of tequila, a row of shot glasses, and a lime, and then his version of the emoji wearing the mask.

Zayn grins and whistles low, showing his sympathy, and then he's reaching over to Niall's notebook and writing something. When he pulls away, Niall sees that he's written his name in neat little lettering, with an arrow beneath pointing over towards him. Niall realizes that yeah, he knows his name, but he hasn't actually _met_ Zayn yet, only knew his name from the first day of class when the teacher called him out for being late. So he writes his name under Zayn's, pulls back enough so Zayn can see it without his elbow in the way, and then Zayn is reaching over again to write: "nice to meet you, niall" with a little smiley face next to it.

He turns his attention back to the lecture after that, and Niall turns his back too, trying not to ralph in the middle of class, but his queasiness is a little subdued, purely because of the distraction of the cute boy that's sitting next to him.

Before he knows it, the professor is dismissing them. Just like the first day of class, Zayn is immediately out of his seat and starting to make his way down their row; this time, though, he does pause to turn around and say "See you, Niall. Good luck with that hangover," before he's through the crowd and out the door. 

\--

Zayn continues showing up to class after that; Niall only shows up hungover one more time. Or two.

They pay minimal attention, although they really should be listening to their professor lecture. Instead they spend the class time passing notes and drawing little doodles in the margins of their notebooks. 

It's the beginning of November when Niall finally works up the courage to ask Zayn out again, this time after an early-morning pep talk from Harry, complete with shoulder rubbing and tea. 

Zayn's all bundled up today, wearing a sweater, jacket, and a scarf, as well as a beanie on his head. There are gloves tucked into his jacket pocket. He's flushed from the cold and shivering a bit, and Niall thinks he's cute. He wants to warm him up. 

He tugs his notebook closer to his body, shielding it from Zayn's view with his elbow. He can feel it when Zayn looks at him curiously, but he just keeps doodling, heart already beating fast in his chest.

When he unveils his masterpiece a few minutes later, pushing the notebook over to Zayn and leaning back in his seat, there's a little stick figure Zayn (recognizable by his quiff) and a little stick figure Niall (complete with Irish flag doodled above his little stick figure head), and a plus sign drawn in between them. Under stick figure Zayn and Niall is an arrow pointing down to a doodle of a coffee cup with the on-campus coffee shop's logo on it. He scrawls/check yes or no/ over two boxes, one labeled _yes_ and one labeled _ouch_.

Zayn looks at his drawing and it takes him a moment to do anything, and Niall's starting to freak out a little bit and Zayn's blushing, Niall's never seen that, he wants to _keep_ seeing it--

And then Zayn's picking up his pencil with one hand and hiding a laugh with the other, but Niall doesn't even register that because Zayn's answering him now and Niall needs to focus on breathing- what if Zayn says no, what if he has to spend the rest of the semester seeing him and being embarrassed? 

His notebook is being pushed back in front of him then, and Niall sits back up in his seat so he can see Zayn's answer.

There's a heart drawn over the yes box, and there's a check mark inside the heart, and Niall knows he probably looks a bit silly grinning in the middle of his econ lecture but he can't really help it.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

COFFEE SHOP.

Niall’s had a really hard time getting used to waking up at the ass-crack of dawn and being at work by 8. Like, a colossal, monumental, ridiculously hard time. He does it, but he’s in no way his usual chipper self when he stumbles, still half asleep, into the studio’s office and clocks in.

So when his friend Harry recommends he start drinking coffee and then even recommends an “amazing coffee shop just down the block, Ni, they’re _great_ ”, Niall figures what the hell, he’ll give it a try. 

Which is how he ends up in line at some kitschy little coffee shop hidden between a bookstore and a clothing store, staring at a menu that he doesn’t understand one bit. 

At some point without him realizing it, he made it to the front of the line, and he’s being jolted out of his confused reverie by a hand waving in his face. 

“Hellloooo?” The barista says. “How can I help you, mate?”

“Oh!” Niall says, sheepish. “Um. Sorry, man, I just… new to the coffee thing and I have no idea what I’m looking at.” He points to the menu. 

The barista, wearing a nametag that says Louis, grins at him. “No worries, mate,” he starts, and then looks to his left. “Zayn, come over here will you?” 

The aforementioned Zayn pops up behind Louis’ shoulder, wiping his hands on his apron and smiling. “What’s up, man?”

“Our friend here has decided, for some unknown or unmentioned reason, to start drinking coffee but does not know where to start. What would you recommend?” He turns back to Niall then. “Zayn’s the one who makes up all these fancy drinks, he’ll come up with something for you.”

Niall just nods, still half-asleep and now a little preoccupied by the cute boy who’s looking at him thoughtfully. After a moment, he speaks. “Get him a grande breve, with a shot of hazelnut. Do the thing with the swirl, too.”

“Aye aye, captain,” Louis says, and turns back to the register to ring up the drink. “See what I mean? You’re probably gonna love it. He’s got a knack.”

Five minutes later, Niall’s walking out the door with probably the best thing he’s ever tasted and a decision to return the next morning.

He does return the next morning, and this time Zayn is at the register when he gets there.

“Hey, mate!” Zayn says when he sees him. “I guess we impressed you yesterday then, huh?”

“Yeah, uh,” Niall starts. Was Zayn this cute yesterday? “It was great man, thanks.”

“No worries. What’ll it be today?”

“Oh, um.” Niall laughs, a little nervously. “Well, like I told the other guy- Louis?- yesterday, I, um. I’m new to the whole coffee thing, actually, so I have no idea what’s what.”

Zayn grins, and _shit_ , yeah, he’s cute. “Just randomly decided to start drinking coffee out of the blue?”

“Actually my mate that I work with, Harry, sent me here? We work just down the road at One Direction Recording-”

Zayn laughs suddenly, and Niall cuts off, confused. “Harry sent you?” Zayn asks, and when Niall nods, he laughs again. “Good lad, Harry.” He turns to Louis, who at some point during the exchange has popped up behind the counter. “Hey, Lou, it appears that Harry sent us our newest customer.”

Lou looks over his shoulder and grins. “We must offer exceptional service, Zaynie boy.”

Zayn turns back to Niall then, and leans over the counter to mock-whisper to him. “Louis is shagging Harry, actually.”

Louis appears again, leaning in over Zayn’s shoulder. “Louis is more than shagging Harry, actually, we’ve been dating for more than a year.”

“Oh my God, you’re /that/ Louis?!” Niall exclaims. “Dude, it’s so great to finally meet you!”

There’s a very pointed cough from behind Niall then, and all three of them start. Louis bustles off to get back to what he was doing, and Zayn goes back to pushing buttons on the register.

“Any recommendations for today?” Niall asks.

“Oh, yeah, I’ve put you in for a french vanilla swirl iced coffee,” Zayn says. Niall reaches back to grab his wallet from his back pocket, but Zayn waves him off. “Don’t worry about it. It’s on me, yeah?”

When Niall leaves this time, it’s with another ridiculously good coffee and a smile on his face.

\--  
Niall keeps going back, and Zayn keeps recommending drinks for him to try; after awhile they run out of new things and Zayn starts whipping things up for Niall that aren’t on the menu.

“You liked that thing from last Tuesday, right?” Zayn asks one morning. Niall nods. “Okay, I’m gonna make you my favorite, then. I think you’ll like that too.”

What Niall doesn’t know is that Zayn never makes his favorite for /anybody/, and very rarely himself, because its hella complicated and Zayn rarely feels like going through the process. But Niall’s cute, okay, with his accent and his flushed cheeks and his sleepy little yawns while he stands in line and waits, and he’s even cuter when he lets the person in line behind him go in front of him so that it will be Zayn’s turn at the register and not Louis’.

“Louuuis,” Zayn says one morning as they’re getting the shop ready for opening. Well. He may whine it, actually. “Louis.”

Louis doesn’t actually respond, just continues turning on all the machines and starting the first pots of coffee, but Zayn knows he’s listening.

“He’s so cute, Lou.”

“Zayn.” When Zayn turns around, Louis is sitting on top of the counter. He beckons Zayn over to him, setting his hands on his shoulders once Zayn is standing in front of him. “It is time that you make a move, kapeesh? Draw a heart on his to go cup or something- oh my god! Do the thing with the number, you gotta do that!”

Zayn wrinkles his nose. “Lou. That’s like, a you and Harry type thing. I’d never do that.”

Louis huffs. “Fine. I don’t suppose you have anything better, do you?”

“I could always just...ask him out?”

“But that’s _boring_.” Louis pushes him back a bit so he can hop off the counter. “If you insist.”  
\--  
When Niall gets there that morning, Zayn is nowhere to be seen. His heart sinks a little, but he gets in line nevertheless- thanks to Harry’s recommendation and the phenomenal drinks Zayn’s been making him, Niall may have become a little bit of a caffeine addict. 

He shuffles to the front of the line, where he’s greeted by Louis.

“Hey, mate! What can I get for you?”

“How’s it going, Lou?” Niall looks up at the menu. He hasn’t actually looked at it since that first day, so he’s still a bit lost. He picks the first thing he sees and pays, then waits for it at the end of the counter instead of chatting with Zayn while he makes it, like he usually would. He tries not to let his disappointment at not seeing Zayn show, but he can tell by the way that Louis smiles at him as he hands him his drink that he’s not doing a very good job. 

“Have a good one, Ni,” Louis says, looking at him knowingly. And also a bit mischievously, but that’s a trait Niall’s come to associate with Louis all the time, if he’s honest.

When he steps outside, though, he realizes that it wasn’t just a standard Louis’-up-to-no-good-as-usual smile, but an actual Louis-is-up-to-no-damn-good smile, because Zayn is standing outside, leaning against a light pole.

“Hey?” Niall starts, confused. “I mean. Hey, Z. What are you doing out here, you on your break or something?”

“Nah. Actually, I was waiting for you.”

Yep. Louis was up to no good. Niall should’ve known. 

“Me?”

Zayn doesn’t answer, instead looks down to the cup Niall’s got in his grasp. “What’d you get?”

Niall smiles sheepishly. “I’ve got no idea, mate. I’m so used to not having to look at the menu that I just sorta. Picked something at random.”

Zayn laughs outright at that, shaking his head. “I’ve spoiled you, Ni,” he says. “Should make you start paying attention to what I’m telling you.”

“Or you could just keep making me the delicious drinks that you do,” Niall counters. He shuffles a little closer to Zayn, out of the way of the passersby. “So what’s up, Z?”

“Well, I was thinking,” Zayn starts. He coughs to clear his throat and runs a hand through his hair. “Um. Would you maybe wanna go out with me sometime?”

Niall’s eyes go wide, unable to believe what he just heard. He just barely manages to hold onto his drink, and even though he’s saying “yes yes yes” in his head, he can’t seem to manage to get the words to form in his mouth.

Zayn takes his silence as Niall trying to figure out how to tell him no, because he immediately starts backtracking. “Oh, shit, Ni, look it’s okay, we can forget I said anything? I thought maybe you were into me too but it’s totally cool if you’re not, no worries-”

It doesn’t seem like Zayn’s going to stop anytime soon, and Niall’s finally recovered enough to manage basic tasks like thinking and breathing, so he reaches out and covers Zayn’s mouth with his hand. 

“Zayn. Yes.”

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

FAMOUS/NON-FAMOUS.

Zayn’s not sure how he manages to get himself to the airport, check himself in, and board the correct plane before 7 am, but he manages, and at 7:05 he’s making his way slowly down the aisle, looking for his seat.

He finds it, but there’s a flight attendant standing in front of it, talking with the guy who’s sitting down. Zayn hears her say “I’m sorry, sir, I’m not sure how your seat got double-booked-”

“It’s really okay,” the guy responds, and Zayn’s not looking at him, too busy trying to stuff his bag into one of the overhead compartments, but he somehow knows that he’s smiling at the attendant.

He’s got a large coffee in his hand and he hadn’t had time for his usual morning smoke, but he pushes that thought to the back of his mind and focuses on closing the door to the compartment, pressing it until he hears the click, and getting to his seat, muttering a “s’cuse me, bro,” to the guy who’s sitting in the aisle seat, fiddling with his phone now after sending the apologetic steward away.

“Sorry, man,” the guy responds as he shifts to the side so Zayn can shuffle by. Zayn hadn’t registered it before, but now he clocks the guy’s accent, thick and lilting even with just those two words.

Zayn drops into his seat, wiping his hands down on his thighs and trying to actively /not/ think about the impending takeoff or the fact that a smoke would really calm his nerves right now.

“Okay, mate?” The guy next to him asks, catching Zayn’s attention. Zayn realizes he’s been fidgeting more than he thought and stops, stilling his legs where they’d been bouncing and smiling sheepishly.

“Oh, yeah, uh. Sorry, just,” Zayn points out the window. “Planes, bro.”

The guy grins. “Ah,” he responds. “I should’ve guessed. My luck I’d get stuck next to the one who’s gonna freak out the entire time-”

“Hey,” Zayn cuts him off, turning to glare at him. “I’m not going to freak out the entire time, it’s just during takeoff- oh.” He realizes that the guy is grinning at him again and trails off. “Oh, ha, you’re funny.”

“Hey, no, I was just messin’, mate,” his seatmate hurries to explain. “I’m sorry, dude, really.”

“Oh I know,” Zayn answers, and now its his turn to grin at the guy next to him. “I was just messing with /you/ that time.”

This pulls an unabashed laugh from the guy, tilting his head back against the seat and laughing loudly. Once he’s stopped, he turns back to Zayn. “Well played, mate,” he says, and extends his hand to Zayn. “I’m Niall, by the way.”

“M’names Zayn,” Zayn answers, reaching out to shake Niall’s hand. He pauses for a second. “Actually, you look super familiar, man. Do we go to the same uni?”

Niall’s grip tightens on his hand briefly before he pulls away, but then he’s smiling again, shifting in his seat and angling himself towards Zayn a little. “Nah, I don’t think so. Maybe I just have one of those faces.”

Zayn laughs when Niall grins exaggeratedly, resting his chin in his hands and fluttering his eyelashes. “Yeah, that must be it.”

The seatbelt light comes on then, and the flight attendants start making their way down the aisles as the safety video starts playing, one standing at the front of the plane and demonstrating the proper way to fasten a seatbelt and to use an oxygen mask.

It’s Zayn’s turn to tense up now, and he grips the armrests as the plane starts taxiing slowly down the runway, preparing for takeoff.

When the captain’s voice comes over the intercom, telling them about the weather and what kind of plane they’re on and how long their flight is going to be, and then the stewardesses take their seats and buckle up, Zayn closes his eyes and tries to breathe past the sudden panic overtaking him, the rushing in his ears and the rapid beating of his heart.

“Hey, so did you know that women who are stressed during their pregnancy are more likely to give birth to short-tempered children?” He hears from beside him, and what the fuck?

“What the fuck?” Zayn asks, opening his eyes to look at Niall incredulously. “Why do you know that?”

“My brother and his wife just had a baby,” Niall answers, shrugging. “I did a lot of reading before he was born.”

Zayn can’t help but laugh a little at that, because honestly. Who is this guy?

“Luckily, Denise had a pretty stress-free pregnancy,” Niall continues. “Theo’s such a laid back little guy, takes after me. Hey, did you know we’re in the air now?”

Zayn starts and turns to look out the window. Sure enough, they’re in the air. He laughs to himself and turns back to face Niall. “Thanks, man. Random fact to distract me from my panic. Good idea.”

Niall grins at him. “Figured I’d give it a shot at least.”

“Well it worked. Appreciate it,” Zayn says. “So, you leaving home or going home?”

“Going home,” Niall answers. “Well, Ireland is _home_ home, but England’s home, too. So. Home.”

“Ireland, really? Never would’ve guessed it,” Zayn smirks, nodding at the snapback Niall’s wearing with the Irish flag right on the front of it. 

Niall either doesn’t catch his sarcasm or chooses to ignore it, leaning back in his seat. He takes his hat off so he can run a hand through his hair before tugging it back on, grinning at Zayn. “Yup. Born and raised,” he says proudly. “Where are you from?”

“Bradford,” Zayn answers. “But I’m in London now at uni, so.”  
\--

They settle into easy conversation after that, and soon, the flight attendants are coming down the aisle with the drink cart. When the woman gets to their seat, she’s already mid-apology.

“Mr. Horan, once again, we just want to apologize for the problem with your seating arrangements-”

“It’s really okay,” Niall cuts her off abruptly, and Zayn can tell that he’s tensed up, but he doesn’t know why. “I’m fine here, I promise. Thank you, though.”

She nods and takes their drink orders then, and when she leaves, Zayn turns to Niall. “What was that about?”

“Oh, nothing,” Niall starts. “Just got my seat switched up is all.”

“Well, lucky you,” Zayn says. “You could’ve ended up with a much worse accidental seatmate, if I do say so myself.”

“I guess you’re alright,” Niall concedes, but he’s grinning at Zayn, and he winks when Zayn gasps exaggeratedly. “Okay, fine, you’re a great accidental seatmate.”

\--

An hour later finds them playing Heads Up on Zayn’s phone, laughing hysterically while Niall tries to get Zayn to guess “hedgehog.”

“Porcupine!” Zayn exclaims, holding his phone up to his forehead.

“No, no, um. Smaller.”

“Oh shit, I know it, its uh-” Zayn closes his eyes. He knows the answer, he knows he knows the answer, it’s right on the tip of his tongue- “Tasmanian devil!”

“What the _fuck_?” is all Niall can manage through his laughing. “Dude, it was a fuckin’ _hedgehog_ , how even-”

“Shut up, I panicked,” Zayn grumbles, handing Niall the phone. “Here, your turn.”

\--

Next, they break out a deck of cards, flipping down the tray in front of Zayn to play a couple rounds of slapjack. 

“Ow, okay, that’s enough,” Niall grumbles, pulling his hand to his chest after Zayn slaps his hand again. The back of it is red from where Zayn’s smacked it repeatedly, having been slower than Niall at slapping the cards as he dealt them. “Besides, I think we’re pissing off that mum back there. I can feel her glaring a hole in the back of my head.”

“That’s probably got nothing to do with the noise,” Zayn starts. “But it probably has everything to do with the amount of times you’ve said ‘shower of cunts’ in the past twenty minutes, though, so-”

Niall flushes but grins, running his hands over his face. He peeks out at Zayn from in between his fingers. “Oops?”

Zayn’s face hurts from smiling so much, but he can’t seem to stop. Instead of grinning at Niall like an idiot, though, he distracts himself by reaching out and snatching Niall’s snapback off his head, flipping it around so it’s sitting backwards on his own. He hadn’t bothered with styling his hair today, instead letting it flop softly over his forehead, so he’s not worried about the hat messing his hair up.

Niall had been about to say something, but when he looks at Zayn he trails off.

“What?” Zayn asks. He wipes at his face. “What, have I got something on my face?”

Niall snaps out of it. “No, mate, you’re good. Wanna watch a movie?”

\--

Zayn may fall asleep on Niall’s shoulder. It’s just. He got up _so_ earlier than normal, he had far less coffee than usual, and, like. Niall’s sweatshirt is really soft, and he’s warm where he’s pressed up against his side while they watch Tangled, splitting a pair of earbuds between them, and his shoulder just seems really comfy. Zayn’s half asleep anyways, head starting to loll as he drifts off, so it’s easy for him to just lean in that last little bit and rest his head on Niall’s shoulder.

He vaguely registers Niall going still beneath him, but after a second he relaxes and shifts down even further so Zayn doesn’t have to rest his head on the bony curve of his shoulder and instead can nuzzle into the junction of his shoulder and neck. 

After that, Zayn’s out like a light.

He wakes up some time later when Niall laughs, and he sits up abruptly, squinting at Niall. He realizes the movie is still on and that’s what Niall must have laughed at.

“Oh, sorry, Z, I’m sorry,” Niall immediately apologizes. “Here, you can lay back down if you want, just. This shit’s funny, man, that horse is killing me.”

Zayn nods and leans back in to rest his head on Niall’s shoulder again. He doesn’t fall back asleep, though, instead watches the rest of the movie with Niall. He laughs out loud at one part, when the horse is making faces at Flynn, and Niall tenses beneath him when he realizes he’s awake.

“Do you want me to move,” Zayn mumbles, voice thick. “Since I’m not sleeping anymore, sorry-”

“Nah, it’s cool,” Niall says immediately. “Stay, really. I kinda like cuddling anyways.”

Oh. Well in that case. “Well in that case,” Zayn says. He grabs Niall’s arm and pulls it around his shoulders so he’s tucked into Niall’s side. “Now we can call it a proper cuddle.”

He has a moment where he fears he may have gone too far, because Niall has gone still beneath him again, but before he can retreat and apologize, Niall relaxes. He even starts rubbing a hand up and down Zayn’s arm. Zayn smiles and leans into him even more, and they watch the rest of the movie like that, with Zayn half-asleep and cuddled into Niall’s side and Niall resting his cheek on Zayn’s head. 

And, well. Zayn didn’t think that when he was getting on a plane at seven in the morning that he was going to meet a cute boy and end up cuddled up with him, but that’s how the day’s turned out and he is so very okay with it. 

\--

When the plane lands, Zayn gets off of it with a smile, Niall’s number, and plans for a date on Saturday night.

It’s as he’s passing the gift shop that something catches his eye. It’s a magazine, and there’s a familiar face splashed across the front of it. As he looks, he sees that most of the magazines have that same face on them.

_NIALL HORAN PRODUCING NEXT 5SOS ALBUM_

_NIALL HORAN’S THIRD ALBUM SET FOR NOVEMBER_

_NIALL HORAN BREAKS RECORDS WITH NEW SINGLE_

Well damn. Zayn snags his phone out of his pocket and opens SnapChat, taking a picture of one of the magazines. He types _did u know u have an evil twin_ and sends it to Niall, right at the top of his recents from where they’d started snapping obnoxious pictures to each other while they were waiting to deboard. 

The snap is opened almost immediately, and not even ten seconds later, a new snap from Niall pops up. Zayn presses and holds it, and sees a picture of Niall, head tilted against a car window. He thinks he may see a hand pressing against the window from the outside, but he disregards that and looks down to what Niall has typed. 

_actually i’m the evil one_

As soon as Zayn opens that one, another snap comes through. He opens it immediately. It’s of Niall’s face again, but this time he’s pouting a bit, his brow furrowed. 

_this okay?_

If he were in a movie, he thinks this is the part where he gets mad at Niall for lying to him, not telling him he’s world famous, but he’s not in a movie and he’s not mad. In fact, he understands why Niall didn’t lead in with it, actually, and so he swipes to get back to the camera and takes a ridiculous selfie, tapping on it after so he can type: _yep see u saturday evil spawn_ with a kissy face emoji.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

MEET ONLINE.

Niall’s should be doing homework. He’s got an eight page paper due in four days that he’s only got half of a rough draft for, on top of a test in his music engineering class. Instead, he’s laying on his bed with his computer open on his stomach, scrolling down his Tumblr dashboard. 

He laughs at some of the stuff Louis has reblogged, some memes and some funny text posts that make him chuckle, queueing up some stuff as he scrolls.

Something catches his eye as he scrolls down, and he pauses, scrolling back up to see what it was. It turns out to be a sick drawing, and he clicks on the OP’s blog to check it out further.

What he finds is a ton of amazing art, from sketches to paintings to pictures of graffiti. It turns out that the artist/blog-owner is sorta friends with Louis, actually, which is pretty cool, and makes Niall feel a little less awkward about completely stalking the guy’s blog.

To be a little less creepy, he goes back to his dash and reblogs the post that Louis has reblogged, and /then/ goes and follows him. His name’s Zayn, and from what Niall’s gathered from his blog, he seems like a pretty chill guy. There’s a bunch of Bob Marley stuff and tons of pictures of skateboards that he’s reblogged, so it’s easy to see what some of his interests are, and why he and Louis seem to be friends. 

Niall opens up a chat with Louis in Skype, knowing that Louis has his laptop with him at his Art History class and also knowing that Louis is most definitely not paying attention.

_dude, that r0llercoaster guy is a m a z i n g_

A few seconds later, he sees that Louis is typing.

_right?_ he sends. _he’s sooo sick, man_

\- -

He develops a bit of a Tumblr-crush on r0llercoaster after that, after he sees more of his incredible art and his witty tags and commentary, and the way he and Louis seem to go back and forth, but he plays it cool. He limits how many posts he likes, reblogs from different users so that r0llercoaster’s notifications aren’t all Niall, and fawns over him from a distance.

He’s not sure how it happens, but a few weeks later, he gets a notification that says “r0llercoaster followed you”. 

He’s cool about it, though. He’s so cool about it. 

(And by ‘cool about it,’ he means he drafts ten versions of a message before settling on one that says ‘hey man, im niall! thanks for the follow, ur art is INSANE’ and pressing send before he can change his mind again.)

Niall doesn’t hear anything back (not that he’s checking. He’s not) until about a day later, and he’s not really sure why he’s all flustered when he sees that he’s got a message from r0llercoaster.

_hey mate thanks so much! i’m zayn btw, it’s nice to ‘’’meet’’’ you, haha. ur blog is great, is that your own song you posted earlier???_

And wow, okay, Niall may need to take a moment at that, because r0llercoaster- Zayn- likes his blog, Zayn has _listened to his music_. 

He messages him back, says _yeah, i wrote that a few weeks ago, mate! i don’t post much of my own stuff, usually, i think ur the bravest person haha_

_it’s so good tho! i’d love to hear more, i bet they’re all great_ is what Zayn sends back, and Louis has to actually throw a pillow across the room at him to get him to stop smiling. 

They fall into an easy mutual after that, messaging each other constantly and tagging each other in reblogs of things they think the other will like. Louis pouts and makes posts about “third wheeling” with his friends Niall and Zayn, who like each other more than they like him, which prompts their followers to start messaging all _three_ of them about it. 

One night, Zayn messages Niall and asks if he wants to chat on Skype instead of through Tumblr. 

_hey ni u wanna chat on Skype? fuckin’ tumblr keeps eating my messages i think_

Niall says yes, of course, and adds him when Zayn sends a request. They spend the whole night chatting, talking about music and art and books (despite Louis’ beliefs that Niall could drink his way through uni, Niall actually /does/ enjoy learning, too), and Niall doesn’t just have a Tumblr crush anymore. He’s got a legitimate, bonafide, no way to escape it, crush.

Their relationship-- friendship?-- spirals from there, and they chat on Skype almost every day, in between classes and at night before bed. One day, while they’re chatting, Niall is contemplating how to ask Zayn if he wants to video chat without seeming creepy. He’s got his mouse hovering over the “Video Call” button and is frowning at his computer screen when all of a sudden the door to his and Louis’ dorm swings wide open. Since Niall’s on his bed and Louis’ sitting at his desk, Niall screams. Well. Shrieks may be a better word.

Harry stops in the doorway and grins. “Hey there, Moaning Myrtle.”

Niall just glares at him, shifting back into his pillows and righting his laptop back onto his lap. When he looks down at his screen, though, he gets another minor heart attack, because there’s a person staring back at him, a model-looking person, with dark hair and ridiculous cheek bones and a shy smile.

“Niall?” The person says.

“Zayn!” Niall answers, his hand immediately going to his hair to try to put it back into place from where he’d been running his hands through it while he was on the computer. “Hey, uh. Sorry? I didn’t mean to bother you, we don’t have to-”

“Ni,” Zayn interrupts him. “I hit ‘accept’, didn’t I?”

And that’s. That’s true.

Louis is up out of his seat and standing in the door next to Harry, now, peering at Niall over his computer screen. He gestures that he and Haz are gonna go, all with a shiteating grin on his face, and Niall waves him off, rolling his eyes. 

“Yeah,” Niall says. “Yeah, you did.”  
\- -  
Niall doesn’t wanna say they’re obnoxious, but. They’re a little obnoxious from then on out. Niall always reblogs Zayn’s artwork with tags that say ‘look how talented my babe is’ and Zayn comments on Niall’s flirty replies to other people with a ‘ -.- ‘ face and an ‘o rly’ just so Niall will scramble to tell him that he’s ‘number one, z, u know that ;)’.

Louis continues whining, makes exaggerated text posts about how he’s being ‘phased out IRL now, the two of them talk all the damn time’, which both Niall and Zayn reblog with a tag they’ve made up for themselves: #snapbacksandtattoos.

_may or may not have just gotten another message asking if we’re a couple_ Niall sends to Zayn on Skype. 

_oh really? what’d u say this time babe_

_’we’re actually married’ hahaha see how long before u get an ask confirming or denying_

\- -  
By the time the spring semester rolls around, Zayn and Niall have exchanged numbers and talk to each other almost constantly. They text and SnapChat and follow each other on Twitter, and Niall is… totally crushing on Zayn. One hundred percent. There is no way to deny it now, and if he’s honest with himself, it’s more than a crush.

“But that’s crazy, isn’t it?” He asks Louis one night, laying on his back on his bed and tossing a ball in the air. “Like, I’ve never even met him, I can’t have a crush on, or like, have feelings for someone I don’t know.”

“But you _do_ know him, mate,” Louis replies, shrugging. “You two talk all the damn time, and about everything. I think he probably knows you better than I do, and I live with you.”

Niall catches the ball again, this time keeping it in his hands instead of throwing it back in the air. “True,” he says. “We do talk a lot.”

“So like, you _know_ him, you know? And y’all have Skyped and stuff, it’s not like you’ve never seen him-”

“And he’s so _cute_ -”

“Yes, I know Niall, Zayn is so cute. Look, man, why don’t you guys meet up or something?”

Niall turns onto his side and catches Louis’ eye. “He may have asked me earlier if I wanted to meet up when he came to London for the weekend.”

He gets another pillow to the face for that one. “Niall Horan why didn’t you TELL me?”

“Because he just asked me this afternoon and I’m still processing.”

“Well obviously you’re gonna say yes!” Louis starts, sitting up excitedly. “You are going to say yes?”

Niall nods and pulls his phone out from his back pocket. “I’m gonna say yes.”

\- -

When Zayn gets off the train, Niall’s there with a flower and two coffees he picked up on his way over, a big smile on his face.

“Hey,” he says as Zayn approaches him, and like. He wants to play it cool. He does. But he can’t stop from grinning, and neither can Zayn, and honestly- they know each other well enough to know how completely _uncool_ they both are, anyways. 

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -   
DADS.

“Daddy, what if I’m bad at football?” Alexis asks from the back seat, kicking the back of Zayn’s chair.

“Well you won’t know if you don’t try, right?” Zayn answers, looking in the rearview mirror to meet his daughter’s eyes. “Besides, I gotta feeling you’re gonna be /great/.”

She grins, toothless and wide, and brushes her hair out of her face again. He’ll have to fix her ponytail when they get to the field. “Are you going to stay the whole time?”

“Of course, darling,” he answers, reaching back to still the kicking with a light touch to his daughter’s ankle. “Can you stop kicking my chair, Lex?”

“Sorry, Daddy,” she says, sheepish. 

“It’s okay, bug, thank you.” He meets her eyes in the rearview mirror again. “I see the field!”

“You do? Where, where?” Alexis starts fidgeting in her seat, trying to see out of the window.

“Right there! Are you excited?”

“I am, I’m so excited!”

\- -

When he gets Alexis out of the car and grabs all of her stuff, they make their way over to their designated field, Zayn gets excited, too.

This is why: he sees a very good looking man standing in the center of the field with a whistle around his neck, a cluster of five year olds already standing around him, and, well. Five year old recreational football just got a hell of a lot more interesting. 

“Alexis, I think I see Uncle Harry and Uncle Louis, do you want to go find Madison?” 

“Yeah!” She answers, but she’s already gone, tearing off in the direction of her uncles. Harry catches her with open arms and throws her in the air, and Zayn can hear her laughing before he even catches up. 

Since Harry’s occupied turning Alexis upside down and tickling her sides, Louis is the one who greets him.

“Hey, babe,” Louis says, pulling him into a hug. “Did you see the fit coach?”

So they’re getting right to it, then. Zayn laughs and shakes his head. “Lou, I just got here-”

“That’s not a no, though.”

Zayn rolls his eyes. “Yes, I saw him.”

Harry’s put Alexis down, now, and she’s run off to find Madi, where she's already engaged in a game of tag. “He’s proper fit, isn’t he,” Harry adds to the conversation, looping an arm around Louis’ shoulders.

Zayn narrows his eyes and looks in between the two of them, both grinning at him winningly and not at all suspiciously. “What are you two up to, then?”

“Nothing,” they answer in unison, and Zayn narrows his eyes further. Luckily for them, the sound of a whistle comes from across the field to get their attention, and when they look, they see the coach waving everyone in.

Not so luckily for him, the coach _is_ actually properly fit, with a winning grin and bright eyes and an Irish accent. 

“Hi everyone, I’m Niall Horan, and I’ll be coaching the 5U recreational team this season! I’m really looking forward to it, I think we’re gonna learn a lot and have a lot of fun.”

Louis nudges him with his hip at that, and Zayn doesn’t have to look to know that Louis is waggling his eyebrows at him. He nudges his elbow into Louis’ side to get him to stop, but all that gets him is a stomp on the foot.

“Ow!” Zayn cries out, turning to glare at Louis. Unfortunately, everyone else has turned to look at him. He flushes and looks around, smiling sheepishly and giving a little wave. “Uh. Sorry.”

Niall grins and laughs. “No worries, mate. Anyways, as I was saying, we’ll practice on Monday nights at 6, and games will be on Saturdays. I’m gonna be passing around a list for everyone to sign up for snack duties for Saturdays,” he says, pulling his clipboard out from under his arm. “My daughter Carson-” he points to a little brunette girl standing at the front of the crowd- “and I will take the first Saturday, and we should have enough parents that everyone only has to go once.”

Zayn sighs and leans in to whisper in Louis’ ear. “He is fit, isn’t he.”

Louis just grins. “I’ve heard he’s single, too.”

“Yeah, but he’s got a kid, Lou, he’s probably straight-”

Louis raises an eyebrow at him. “You have a kid, too, remember?” Zayn nods, because. That’s a good point. “Besides, Harry said that his friend Liam at the gym says that Niall is most certainly not straight.”

Zayn turns back to the meeting. He lets his gaze settle back on Niall, who’s busy talking about teamwork and how good it is for children to experience sportsmanship at an early age.

“It’s weird, though, right,” he leans in to whisper again. “Like, I can’t date my daughter’s soccer coach, there are probably rules against it?”

“Zayn, we’re talking about U-5’s rec league soccer, not her teacher or something,” Louis responds. “You wouldn’t be breaking any laws.”

“You should ask him out,” Harry chimes in, leaning over Louis’ shoulder. “Pretty sure I saw him checking you out earlier.”

Zayn rolls his eyes and brushes it off, but can’t help the way his heart starts beating a little faster at the idea that maybe Niall was in fact checking him out.

\- -

Ultimately, he decides not to do anything. Even though Louis and Harry swear up and down that it’s not illegal and that’s its perfectly alright, Zayn can’t get over the idea that it might be weird for him to try to date his daughter’s football coach. 

Instead, he spends the season attending practices and games, cheering on Alexis when she kicks the ball (even though it’s towards the wrong goal) and looks at him with wide eyes and an excited grin.

He also spends the season shamelessly flirting with Niall, but who can blame him? He’s always been a flirt, it’s part of the reason he and Louis got on so well when they first met, and he’s using most of his self control in his efforts to not ask Niall out. 

“Daddy, do you like Coach Niall?” Alexis asks from her carseat one Saturday, as they’re driving home after her game.

“Of course, honey. I think he’s very nice, why?”

“No, do you /like/ like him,” she clarifies, and its amazing how a five year old can make him feel a bit daft. “Because I think you should.”

“You do?”

“Yes,” she says, resolute. “Because I think he like likes you, too, and that’s cute.”

And, well. That’s his daughter’s approval sorted, then, isn’t it?

\- -

He still waits, though, figures he might as well wait until the end of the season party. He’s waited this long, hasn’t he?

When the party rolls around, he and Alexis show up with the dessert they signed up to bring (that Harry made for them, because he’s an actual angel), and Alexis takes off to find Madison and the friends they’ve made on their team. 

Zayn mingles, greets the parents whose names he hardly remembers, until Harry separates himself from the pile of kindergarteners that had tackled him and makes his way over to him.

“Hey, babe,” Harry says, a bit out of breath. Zayn reaches out and flips his collar back down for him while Harry rearranges the scarf he’s got in his hair. “How’s it going?”

“Good, yeah,” Zayn answers. They both turn to look out at the party and find Louis and Niall taking on all of the kids in a pickup game of footie. Harry’s got hearteyes as usual, gazing fondly at his daughter and his Louis. Normally, Zayn would say something, would poke him in the side and make a joke, but he finds himself distracted by Niall, by the way he moves, the way he commands the attention of the kids and makes them laugh, all way handling a football with ease. 

“Shit, Zayn,” he hears Harry murmur beside him.

“I _know_ ,” he answers, despairingly, dramatically. To complete the dramatic whining, he turns on his heel and stomps over to the drink table, ignoring the way Harry laughs behind him.

He finds no peace there, though, because as he’s pouring himself some lemonade, Niall comes jogging over, breathless and smiling and _fit_. 

“Hey, Zayn,” Niall greets, accepting the cup of lemonade that Zayn hands him. “Kids are runnin’ me ragged, mate.”

Zayn laughs and nods. “You’re a better man than I am, Niall. I could never coach a team of five year olds and maintain my sanity like you do.”

“Who says I’m sane?”

Zayn laughs again, points a finger at Niall. “Very good point. What kind of tests did you have to pass to be able to coach our children, exactly?”

He’s not sure when it happened, but Niall has somehow made his way closer to Zayn, their arms touching where they’re both leaning back against the table. He’s warm, skin a little tacky from sweat, and Zayn turns to look down where their arms are pressed together. He thinks for a fleeting moment that he likes the contrast, the way Niall’s pale, freckled skin looks next to his own darker one. 

When he looks up to meet Niall’s eyes, he finds that Niall’s already gazing at him, biting on his bottom lip as he does so. 

“Hey, Zayn,” he starts, and Zayn nods, finds himself leaning in closer without ever making the conscious decision to do so. There’s a long pause, and then: “I think we need another pitcher of lemonade. Do you think you could help me get one out of the kitchen?”

It takes Zayn a second, too flustered by Niall’s proximity, but when he realizes what Niall’s getting at, he nods quickly. “Yes. Yeah, sure,” he says. “Of course.”

They barely make it into the kitchen before Niall’s turning around and stepping into Zayn’s space, one hand cupping Zayn’s jaw and one at his waist, and ducking down to press his lips quickly to Zayn’s. “This okay?” He asks right after, lips brushing Zayn’s, but Zayn doesn’t answer, just pushes up on his toes and kisses Niall again, hands on either side of Niall’s neck.

He’s warm and a little sweaty and he smells like grass, but underneath that Zayn can smell the lingering hints of cologne; he can feel Niall’s body against him, strong and broad, and he instinctually moves closer.

When they pull apart a few moments later, they’re both grinning.

“So I _may_ have been thinking about doing that since the first practice,” Niall admits, grinning sheepishly at Zayn.

“Same,” Zayn responds immediately, and then: “Actually, there was something else I’d been wanting to do, too.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Zayn says. “I’ve been meaning to ask- would you wanna go out with me sometime?”

Niall grins. “Yes,” he answers. “It’s not like I’ve been waiting _all season_ for you to ask me or anything.”

“Shut up,” Zayn grumps, but its not much of a grump, what with the way he can’t stop smiling. “So it’s a date, then.”

Niall leans down and kisses him quickly. “It’s a date.”


End file.
